I'm SO excited! This day started off pretty lousy. Joshua is on another Christmas hunger strike - won't eat anything but a couple chips and a couple pieces of dry cereal here and there. Everything else is a pitch battle - he throws up, screams, smacks. If I force feed him something (this a.m. it was a bite of scrambled egg, for lunch a bite of chicken nugget) he pockets it in his cheek, like a squirrel with a nut. He can keep the food in his cheek indefinitely - or usually until I turn my back for a moment and then he spits it out. At lunch I dug through the trash for another chicken nugget and sat there until he swallowed it. Then I hugged him, gave him some skittles, and a movie. Jacob goes nuts while Joshua is carrying on - he IS rather loud. Rachael usually ignores Joshua when he is doing this, but will eventually break down and cry. Abby was trying to shriek as loud as Joshua. Mostly the other kids were ignored today while I fought with Joshua. And when he doesn't eat he walks around crying because he is so hungry. But he does not have the cognitive ability to put two and two together and realize he's starving himself, and if he would eat he would feel better. It's so frustrating. I called his speech therapist, Christina, and cried and whined to her for a bit. This is exactly what we dealt with last Christmas - ugh! She suggested giving him several mini-meals throughout the day - if he has to eat a bite or two of unpreferred foods (which is about everything at the moment!) at regular intervals he may not act up as much than if he eats larger meals only 3x/day. Make sense? Sounded good to me - except the bit about me doing all the feedings! I just want to crawl into my closet with my oreos at mealtimes now!

Anyway, on to the exciting part.. Rachael and Abby both had a check-up with the eye specialist this afternoon. Rachael to monitor her crossing, and Abby as a follow-up to having her tear ducts irrigated a month ago. On the way to the office I heard a commercial on the radio with a lady talking about needing energy to raise her son w/special needs. I perked up and listened. The lady speaking turns out to be a friend of mine, Liz Scillian! It was a commercial for Citracal. It was the best commercial ever! And check out the Citracal website: http://www.standstrong.com

the first picture (in b&w) is Liz. I was in tears! I called her and was saying "oh my gosh oh my gosh!" How NEAT!!

BTW - good news on both girls. Rachael's eyes are not crossing so long as she is wearing her glasses. We may have to start putting a patch over her left eye for an hour or two a day. The doctor wants to see her again in Feb before making the determination. Abby is doing great after her procedure.

..off to the food wars now.